The present invention relates to an alternatable dual cartridge supply system for an externally driven automatic weapon. More particularly, the present invention relates to an alternatable dual cartridge supply system for an externally driven automatic weapon which selectively transfers the cartridges from one or the other of two cartridge chutes which are disposed on opposite sides of a rotor equipped with three recesses for conveying the cartridges, a recess of the rotor for further transport to a breech block disposed so as to be longitudinally displaceable on the bore axis of the barrel of the weapon for transfer of the cartridge into the cartridge chamber, with the breech block being driven by a control roller connected with the rotor and jointly therewith fixed to or mounted on the weapon housing, and with supply star wheels of the dual cartridge supply system, the rotor and the control roller being connected together in a form locking and driving manner so that the rotor is driven in steps while the star wheels or wheels supplying the cartridges and the control roller are driven continuously.
In an automatic weapon of the above type disclosed in European Patent Application EP-OS 129,457 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,612,843, belted ammunition is supplied selectively by means of a left or right cartridge supply device to a central rotor which forwards the cartridges by stepwise rotation to a breech block ready to be pushed into the cartridge chamber. The housing of each cartridge feeding system is connected in an articulated manner on the side of a breech block control roller with the parts of the weapon which move back and forth during firing. To supply the cartridges, each cartridge supply housing is provided with a supply star or sprocket wheel which is driven at a constant rpm. However, cartridges can be supplied only through that star wheel whose cartridge supply housing has just taken on the position in which it is pivoted opposite the rotor. In the pivoted-out position, the drive of the respective star wheel is automatically interrupted. In the normal operating position of the automatic weapon, the cartridges are externally supplied from the bottom to each star wheel by the belts guided in the supply housing and once they are taken out of the belt, the cartridges are transported around a star wheel for lateral transfer into a recess of the rotor.
In this automatic weapon it is considered to be a drawback that, due to the belt entering the feed housing externally from opposite a star wheel and due to the cartridges rotating around the respective star wheel as well as due to the exclusively lateral cartridge transfer into the rotor recess and, furthermore, due to the fact that a feed housing must always be pivoted to transfer the cartridges into the rotor a large amount of space compared to the width of the weapon must be made available. Consequently, for operation of such an automatic weapon, which may, for example, be mounted within the narrow confines of the ring mount of a turret space restraints must be expected. Moreover, a space consuming actuating mechanism is additionally required to pivot the feed housing in and out. When the feed housing is in the pivoted-out position, further means are required to hold the unbelted cartridges which have not yet been moved into the rotor recesses. A further drawback of this alternatable supply system is that, before entering the alternatable supply system, the cartridges are not axially guided so that such a possibly freely movable belt arrangement is not suitable for use with cylindrical cartridges which are sensitive to shocks.